Press

Alcina

Last time a baroque opera by Georg Frideric Handel was performed at the Göteborg Opera
it was a resounding success. Now it's time for another Handel production.

Première at the Göteborg Opera on Saturday, February 5, 2011

Alcina, from 1735, will be produced by the Greek director Yannis Houvardas and will take the form of an elegant and lushly dense chamber drama. The opera centres on the bewitchingly beautiful Alcina, who maintains her youth by conquering every man that comes her way. When she gets bored of her lovers, she turns them to stone. The young Ruggiero is about to become her next victim, but his fiancée Bradamante will not give in
without a fight. The struggle between lust and true love can now begin.

Georg Frideric Handel's Alcina will be performed in Göteborg for the very first time. The vocal line-up is led by four female stars: Agneta Eichenholz, Katarina Karnéus, Ida Falk Winland and Ann-Kristin Jones. This will be the first performance by internationally successful Agneta Eichenholz at the Göteborg Opera, as well as the eagerly awaited return of Katarina Karnéus after her performance of Der Rosenkavalier in 2002. Ida Falk Winland and Ann-Kristin Jones both received critical acclaim over their roles in the
last Handel opera produced by the Göteborg Opera, Giulio Cesare in 2008. Other performers include Åke Zetterström, recently awarded the Opera award by the OPERA magazine, and young tenor Martin Vanberg. The opera will be conducted by baroque opera expert Laurence Cummings, who also conducted Giulio Cesare in 2008.
Lars-Åke Thessman will create the stage design, and Karin Erskine's costumes will give the production an air of decadent glamour. The light design has been created by Torkel Blomkvist. Productions previously directed by Yannis Houvardas at the Göteborg Opera
have included Parsifal, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Der Rosenkavalier.

For review tickets to the premiere on Saturday February 5 at 6 pm, please contact Anita Mansskog on 031-10 80 34 or at anita.manskog@opera.se by Tuesday February 1 at the latest.

The performance will last for approximately
three and a half hours, including two breaks. Media images will be available on
www.opera.se/press from February 2.